of law and crime
by Kitty Petro
Summary: AU college. Regina 'Redglare' Pyrope is in her second year at college, studying law. Life is great, school work is exemplary and all her teachers tell her she'll go far. The only thing is... she's dating Mindfang Serket, the next in line to take over the Serket Syndicate. How will she balance the law and her love at the same time? Let's find out Redfang slight Porrim/Aranea
1. Chapter 1

Of law and crime

Chapter 1

A pirate and her laywer

Regina Pyrope was mad. She was in her 2nd year in college, studying law… or, she should have been studying law.

Instead she found herself parking her red Porsche outside the junior detention center, walking inside as fast as her heeled boots could take her, finding the officer in charge in the back.

"Hi there Pyrope, I was wondering when I would see you."

"Where is she?"

"Cell B, follow the sounds of sea chanteys, you won't miss it, I'll buzz you in."

The door opened and Regina followed the way to familiar hall down to Cell B, seeing a few teens sitting together singing… well, trying to. The ringleader of the group, a girl with long black hair and a stupid grin on her face looked up as she realized they had company.

"HEY, REDGLARE, YOU CAME."

The girl rose and walked over to the bars, smiling her usual grin. "MINDFANG I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU, what the hell did you do THIS TIME?"

Regina… or Redglare as she was called by almost everyone at the college, scowled hard at Mindfang from behind her red glasses.

"You seriously need to relax Redglare, it wasn't that big of a deal, just tell me what I need to do to get off the hook."

"Mindfang I am not a fucking miracle worker."

"You study law don't you?"

Redglare groaned, raising her hands to her face, burying herself in her own hands as she counted slowly to ten. She took a deep breath, looking over at Mindfang, closing her hands in front of her as almost in prayer.

"All right… I am going to regret asking this, but what are the charges?"

Mindfang looked both proud and embarrassed at the same time. "Ok so… if I told you there was this sweet old timey ship that was just begging for a pirate crew? And that I might have had a bottle of beer… or two… ten tops."

Redglare groaned, her fingers clutching the bridge of her nose. "You stole a ship… Did you actually get it somewhere or was it still in its spot in the harbor when you got caught?"

Mindfang looked almost pleased with herself as she answered the question.

"Hey. I'm not studying maritime engineering for nothing! I even got a crew...most of which are probably having a huge hangover, but still..."

Redglare sighed. "Shit, ok... so you stole a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol... did you BREAK anything?"

Redglare closed her eyes, praying to herself that the answer wouldn't be yes.

"A few teeth… and some of my crewmates… but other than that no, I don't break stuff, that's so booooooooring. And I had the fucking decency to park the ship properly and throw up in a random thrash can, so it should be just as pirate-worthy as before."

Redglare sighed. "OK first of, it's not a Pirate ship Mindfang. This is not colonial America and if it was, you'd already be hanging from a noose by now. Second of all, thank god that the ship wasn't damaged. Ok so… not the worst you have done… now as for punishment… has the owner asked for any money for property damage?"

Mindfang shrugged. "Not that I know of."

"Ok… I'll go talk to the guard."

"Sweet, I'll be out of here in no time."

Redglare sighed again, walking back to the guard in charge. There she sat down in the chair opposed to him and took a moment to polish her glasses.

"All right… I talked to her… I know the case from her standpoint… what is she facing?"

The man sighed. "Well given her… family ties we're not going to send her to juvie for something as little as this… Community service… 8 hours every day for 8 weeks."

Redglare chuckled. "All the 8ths… she'll be pleased with that… and her bail?"

"Payed for about 5 minutes ago."

Redglare looked up in shock. "You mean to tell me?"

"We called her mother, yes… we have found that that's the most efficient way of getting Serket out from here as fast as possible before she starts getting bored and making noise for the hell of it. We told her mother that she had a visitor… I think she knew it was you, so she asked to tell you to please drive her daughter home."

"I was planning to do that anyways… ok, come with me and let her loose then, and I'll tell her the news."

Redglare and the Officer walked back to the cell, Mindfang smiling at them as they turned the corner. "You are lucky Mindfang, only 8 weeks of community service, you are lucky you didn't get charged with a prison sentence."

Mindfang grinned, walking outside as the door opened. "And apparently no bail either, unless it was so small you could pay it with your poor student salary."

"I wasn't the one paying the bail… Your mother knows."

Mindfang shrugged. "Ma's probably laughing herself silly at this."

"Well there is a good thing your mom's not mad cause I sure as hell am. You do something this stupid again Mindfang I will find you and I will fucking hang you myself for the grief you will put me through."

Mindfang's cheeky grin disappeared for a second before walking out of the now open cell door, hugging Redglare.

"I'm sorry you got worried over me… I promise I will try to not be a stupid drunk again in the near future."

"Liar" Redglare muttered, appreciating the hug none the less. She released herself from the hug, leading Mindfang out to her car, the two sitting down.

Redglare looked over at Mindfang pointedly, the black haired woman rolling her eyes before fastening her seatbelt.

Redglare kept her gaze at Mindfang.

"What?"

"Just… remembering how pleasant my life was before I met you. When life was good, and I could study law without worry about stuff like good or wrong… when live was black and white instead of a strange shape of grey."

Mindfang grinned. "When you weren't dating the girl next in line as head of a mafia family?"

Redglare groaned, starting her car.

It was true. She had met Mindfang in their first year of college. Up until that memorable day in October she had kept to herself, not made any friends or pursued any relationships. But one strange day in the library, she made the insane choice of sitting down next to a girl with olive skin, long thick curly black hair and her nose down in a marine textbook looking up sharks. They started talking, she didn't even remember about what, and soon she had made a friend.

Over the months the friendship blossomed into something more, and by December the two became a couple. Around the end of February she noticed Mindfang getting sad and dejected, wondering if she had done something wrong… and Mindfang in return told her that she loved her, but didn't think Redglare would love her the moment she really got to know her.

Redglare told her this was rubbish, and that Mindfang could do anything she tried, Redglare would never turn on her. Mindfang then spoke up, telling Redglare something she barely could believe.

"I'm from a mob family… and after my ma retires I will be the next in line… and I have no intention of trying to escape from the life."

Redglare just looked at her in shock, and then gaped… she then started pacing on the spot muttering to herself.

After about 5 minutes she turned around to look at Mindfang. "We have been dating for almost 2 months… more if we are thinking about how long we have been friends. We have talked about everything, from life on sea, law, childhood and fucking dragons… and you didn't think to tell me that you were from a crime syndicate?"

"It's not really a secret" Mindfang said with a shrug. "Everybody with ties to the law enforcement and most of the bad neighborhoods in the area knows we're in charge."

Mindfang looked down dejected into the ground. "You wanna break up now or?"

"I want to meet them."

Mindfang looked up. "Come again?"

"I want to meet your family."

"… Are you insane?"

"Probably, but I don't care."

"OK… if that is what you want."

…

Redglare let her memories lie as she kept her eyes on the road, stopping at a red light. "You know, you never told me how my first meeting with your mom ended after I left."

Mindfang laughed. "Let's just say you earned a few cookie points as far as Ma is concerned."

"Gained? I stared at her, with no glasses on, told her I was your law student girlfriend and that no matter what else happened I was not going to back out of the relationship, nor was I giving the Serket family any help in any kind of law related incidents and if she had a problem with it she could kiss my ass."

Mindfang laughed. "Yeah and then you kissed me, said you'd see me in the morning and stormed off."

"Seriously though, how did she take it? I don't think I have seen her since then."

Mindfang chuckled. "She can respect a strong woman, even if her career is fucked up. It would've been worse if you had been a wimp."

"Oh yeah, sure, MY career is the one that is fucked up."

The light turned to green, Redglare taking a right turn.

"In all seriousness though, a pirate ship? You are the daughter of a mob boss, had you decided to take a car and play Al Capone in the streets, that I would have understood, but a SHIP?"

"Hey pirates are cool and you know it."

"And sentenced to death by hanging, as I have already told you. They could stay alive for days you know, hanging and choking, while birds sat down on them eating them alive."

"If they got caught, yes."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you just get caught?"

"Friendly reminder that they didn't have security cameras at the time, also known as the number one reason I've been busted."

Redglare stopped her car, turning off the ignition, before sighing, starting to bang her head slowly against the wheel, the car making a bunch of sad honking noises.

At the house where Redglare had parked, a door opened and a woman stepped outside, walking down to the car. Redglare stopped banging her head on the wheel, looking up at the woman.

Reaching up to Mindfang's bust, the woman had the same skin and hair, but bigger boobs and a myriad of strange scars across her skin. She wore a black leather vest showing a lot of cleavage, scars as well as a spider web tattoo and a pair of skin tight jeans.

Redglare sighed. "Hi Mrs. Serket I brought your insufferable asshole of a daughter home from the detention center... again... while I could have stayed home studying for my midterms like SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE."

"Don't worry your lawful little head 'bout it kid, I'll make sure she gets through. Wouldn't want the future boss to be uneducated."

"DO NOT NEED TO HEAR THIS."

Mindfang laughed. "Relax, she's just janking your chain cause you keep calling her Mrs. Serket, makes her feel old. I told you to call her Marquise, she prefers that."

Marquise chuckled. "Well, it's not exactly a secret that we run this part of town. Still, I like your backbone, girl. Out of all the possible law students she could've gone with, I'm glad it turned out to be one like you."

T"hank you Mrs. Marquise... but please try to make your daughter lighten up on the drinking... and skippering... unless the thought of her going to Juvie is a career requirement or something."

Mindfang leaned over, kissing Redglare before jumping out of the car.

"Relax kid, she's in good hands… thank you for driving her home though."

Redglare gave a small nod, before turning to Mindfang.

"I'll see you at school."

"Yeah of course."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

Redglare smiled, before starting her car, driving down the lane and out of sight.

"Cute kid… even if she's a law enforcer."

Mindfang chuckled, but was caught out of her reverie by a small voice called out her name.

"Auntie Mindfang, Auntie Mindfang."

Mindfang smiled as she saw the young body of a 6 year old girl, leaning down to catch her as she came running towards her, lifting her up into her arms.

"Hi there Vriska, how's my favorite niece doing?"

"Great, we learned about spiders in nature class today and in recess I won in all the games we played, and I stole Edrian's lunch money cause he's a stupid fart face."

Mindfang laughed. "That's my girl, keep it up."

"Auntie Mindfang, mommy said you were a pirate today, but Aranea says that pirates aren't real."

"Well you can tell your sister that pirates are too real and awesome and that for a whole hour today I was a feared pirate captain with a good crew and the coolest ship."

"Wow auntie you are so cool."

Mindfang grinned. "You will be just as cool as me one day… now, shouldn't you be in bed?"

Vriska yawned. "But I'm not yaaaaaaaawn tired at all."

"Come now Vriska, even strong cool pirates like us need sleep… now come on, I'll read you a bed time story."

Mindfang walked up the walkway to her house, her mother in tow, up to the Serket household, home of the Spider family.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Meeting the family

The next day Mindfang found her beautiful girlfriend sitting in the school cafeteria at lunch, eating with one hand, holding down a textbook with the other.

"Hi there beautiful, thanks for the lift yesterday."

Redglare looked up from her book, her mouth full of delicious apple to answer back, taking a few bites before swallowing.

"Well if you had stayed home and practiced for your midterms like a normal college student I wouldn't have had to."

"Well I am not exactly a normal college student am I?" Redglare sighed, closing her book and rubbing her temples.

Mindfang looked at her with a sad smile. "Look… I want to come with an offer, and I want you to hear me out and think it over before you shoot it down."

Redglare looked at Mindfang who was being unusually serious. "OK?"

"After school… I want you to come home with me and spend the weekend there. It's a Friday and if you have any tests on Monday we can borrow the study, my house is big enough for us to get peace. Thing is, I want you to meet my family… not just see them; judge them silently for their mobster ways and leave."

Redglare looked at Mindfang. "You really want me to do this don't you?"

"You say all the grey is making it hard for you to know what to do… I want to show you that we are not all that bad… as far as mobsters go. We don't involve civilians in our wars, and we have some moral high ground… please, stay the weekend."

"Have you asked your mom about this?"

"She said it was cool with her as long as you understood she was not gonna try to hide anything of what the family does."

Redglare nodded, thinking it over. "All right."

"Really?"

"Yeah… I need to go home first and get some extra clothes and let my family know, but I can come."

Mindfang grinned, hugging her girlfriend happy. "Oh thank you love, you have no idea how much this means to me, I owe you big time."

"Yeah, yeah, now let go, lunch is almost up and I need the strength to sit through my ancient law class."

…

A few hours later Redglare drove up to the Pyrope household, parking her car in the driveway as she got her school supplies, almost tripping as she stepped out of the car and onto a small wheel.

She groaned, taking a deep breath. Her absent minded sister was working on her skateboards again it would seem.

"LATULA, WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT NOT LEAVING YOUR STUFF SPREAD AROUND?"

The door to the garage opened, and a young teen popped out, looking to Redglare as she held out the wheel she had almost tripped on.

"Oh, that's where my back left wheel went, thanks sis, you are the best."

Redglare sighed as she looked at her sister, once again wearing clothes that were dirty from dust and oil, as well as several crashes with the ground on her board.

"Is mom home yet?"

"Nope, she called, said she had a late evening at the office and to not wait up. She asked me to pick up Terezi so I did… speaking of, we really should try to do something about her."

"What do you mean?"

Well… I can't prove it but I think she's being bullied because of her sight… or rather lack of."

Redglare sighed. "Do you know where she is?"

"I sat her down in front of the TV and put on her favorite show and gave her some crayons… that was half an hour ago maybe… you want to talk to her."

Redglare sighed. "Yes… but I can't right now. Listen I need you to do me a solid."

"Always sis, what's up?"

"I am going to Mindfang's for the weekend, she wants me to become acquainted with the family… we both know that mom is going to work a lot… can you take care of Terezi until Monday?"

Latula winched. "Well, I was going to do some stuff with the guys this weekend."

"I'll pay you 50 bucks."

"I will look after her like a hawk."

"Good. No junk food, if she asks for help with her homework, even if you suck at it, help her as best as you can, and if I find out you took her along on one of your skating adventures I will find my camera and film me spanking your bare ass and post the video on youtube and facebook are we clear?"

"No taking the almost blind girl skateboarding, message heard loud and clear."

"Good… now I am gonna get my stuff, try to not stay out here too long, you know how Tez get's when she's alone."

"Yeah yeah, you have fun over at your mobster girlfriend's house; I'll see you on Monday if you are still alive."

Redglare sighed and walked up to the Pyrope household, walking into the living room finding her youngest sister Terezi laying on her stomach, feet kicking idly in the air as she drew on her paper with big strokes of her red crayola pen.

"Hi there Terezi."

Terezi looked up from the paper as Redglare sat down next to her. "Hi Wegwina."

Redglare smiled. Terezi was the only one who still called her by her actual name, and it felt kind of nice. "What are you drawing?"

"Pywo."

Redglare nodded. Pyro was Terezi's imaginary dragon friend, who had appeared at the start of the school year when Terezi had graduated from kindergarten to preschool. Redglare looked down at the drawing, seeing a large red mass with wings spew fire on a bunch of sad looking stick men with hair and bows.

"So… how was school?"

Terezi shrugged, not really looking like she wanted to talk about it.

"The teachers kind?"

"I suppowse… when they awe awound."

'Here we go' Redglare thought, looking down at her sister as she continued to drag the red crayon over the paper.

"Made any new friends?"

"Don't need them, I have Pywo."

Redglare sighed. "You know how I color my hair?"

Terezi looked up, giving her big sister a curious look. "Yeah, you color it wed to match me and Lula."

Redglare smiled. "Yes I do… but also because I feel like I need to hide what my real hair looks like."

"Why?" Terezi asked, sitting up now and looking at her sister with big curious eyes.

"Because people see me differently… back when I was your age there were kids who didn't know how they should react and some was even scared of me. They called me many names and did many things to me and my stuff."

"What did you do abouwt it?"

"I went to mom… and the teachers… and the principal. And they had a meeting with the kids parents and we had a full day in class explaining about my albinism."

"Youw what?"

"My white hair and red eyes."

Terezi nodded, understanding and thinking to herself before looking up.

"But you still hide it fwom people."

"I do… because that was my choice."

Redglare smiled down on Terezi, ruffling her hair.

"And you have a choice to. You can sit and let people talk you down… or you can tell yourself that you are awesome no matter what the others think."

Redglare looked at her sister, at her little sister with the ginger hair, myriad of freckles and big green eyes behind even bigger and thicker red trimmed glasses.

There was no kid as pretty as her when she smiled.

"Now I am going to visit a friend for the weekend so I won't be here, but your sister is going to look after you so just ask Latula if you need anything, ok?"

Terezi nodded. "Ok, I pwomise I'll behave."

"I know you will, and look after your sister for me too, Ok?"

Terezi nodded and rose up to hug Redglare, the woman glad that her sister seemed calmer now.

…

About half an hour since giving Terezi a hug Redglare parked her car in the Serket driveway, smiling as she saw Mindfang waiting for her at the porch.

"What took you so long?"

"Had to deal with some stuff with my sisters… now where can I park this and know that it will not be stolen or taken apart while I am here?"

Mindfang giggled. "I'll open the garage door, no one touches anything inside the garage, they know I'll flip if they do."

Mindfang opened the door to the large and vast garage, Redglare finding a good nice space for her baby before getting out of the car with her bag of stuff.

"All right Mindfang… let's do this shit."

Mindfang smiled and took Redglare's hand, walking her through a door leading from the garage to the hall of her house.

"Ok, first of, are you hungry?"

"I suppose a little food wouldn't be too bad" Redglare mumbled, as she realized she hadn't eaten properly since lunch.

"Good, kitchen is this way."

Mindfang brought Redglare to the kitchen, a big open space with a huge table and top of the art appliances and sink. Also, using the stove was a woman looking a few years older than Redglare and Mindfang, her hair short and brown.

"Hi Rosa, what are you cooking?"

The woman turned to Mindfang, giving her a small smile.

"I am making bread, we are getting low and I prefer making it rather than buying it… besides this way I can sneak in some healthy wheat for the kids without them knowing of it."

The woman named Rosa turned to look at Redglare.

"Hi… you're new."

"Oh, yeah, Rosa, this is Redglare, my girlfriend. Redglare this is Dolarosa Maryam, she responds to Dolarosa or Rosa, call her Dolores and you will get smacked."

Redglare looked at Rosa. "Maryam? Not Serket?"

"Oh no, I just… work here."

"Nothing bad" Mindfang promised as Redglare lifted an eyebrow. "It's a long and complicated story really."

"Mindfang you don't have to make stuff up to spare me" Rosa said, drying her arms on her apron and taking it off.

"I am the oldest of 3 kids, our parents lived a happy life… they went out one day to a diner to celebrate their anniversary when the Ampora family hit it… there was a shoot out and my parents never walked out from the diner."

Rosa sighed. "I was an adult by legal standards and I had the choice of seeing my sisters be put into foster homes or take them in myself. I dropped out of college and took them in and got a job… then another… and another. And then, like how all stuff goes I ended up getting connected to some not so kind people. One day I was suddenly there in a house for a guy who I had been forced to work for when the Serkets came in to settle a debt… Mindfang's aunt was there and was in the middle of interrogating the guy when she got a phone telling her that her 8th nanny of the week had quit on her."

"I came to talking with her about her daughter and I gave some pointers I found useful with my own young sister… and suddenly I was hired full time by the Serkets to look after their kids. I moved in with my own sisters and we have been welcomed like family."

Mindfang giggled, feigning an embarrassed tone. "Aw shucks, you make us sound soft Rosa. Fact of the matter is that you treat us like family too… and ma likes all 3 of you. Besides, Vriska is much less… erratic now that you take care of her than she was before, and you know we look at you as more than the nanny, you help out all of us around the place and we all thank you for it."

"Speaking of taking care of Serket kids." Rosa crossed her arms looking at Mindfang. "What is this I have heard about you getting drunk and stealing a ship? You are supposed to set a good example for your fellow family members as the next don and you go out drunk and steal a ship?"

Redglare smiled. She liked this woman; she seemed pretty grounded as opposed to the rest of the Serket family.

"You could at least have managed to not get caught."

Redglare groaned. Mindfang sniggered.

"Yeah by the way Rosa, Redglare here is studying law… she's here for the weekend to try and find out how ok she is with dating a mobster."

Dolarosa turned to Redglare who was massaging her temples. "Take it from someone who speaks from experience… you'll get used to this after a while."

"I am not sure if that's a good thing" Redglare said sighing. Dolarosa opened her mouth and was about to speak as the sound of a door opening and kids laughing was heard, Redglare looking as two kids came running into the kitchen, one looking like a Serket, the other a smaller version of Rosa.

The Serket kid spoke up. "Hi Auntie Rosa we're back from school and I've been really good today can I have a cookie?"

The brunette turned around to pout at her. "Hey I behaved nice too, I also want a cookie."

Dolarosa smiled at them. "All right kids, first of all, we have a guest, what do we do when we meet new people?"

The kids turned around seeing Redglare, the brunette curtseying gently in her green dress.

"I'm Kanaya Maryam, pleased to meet you."

The girl besides her simply crossed her arms trying to look tough and menacing.

"And I'm Vriska Serket, and I'll be the boss someday after Auntie Mindfang."

"Indeed you will squirt" Mindfang said smiling. "And you'll be awesome at it too."

Rosa smiled. "All right kids, that was very good. Now if you want cookies, I need to see your homework reports."

Kanaya quickly got hers out of her bag, handing it over to Dolarosa who smiled.

"Thank you Kanaya… and you Vriska?"

Vriska grabbed a piece of crumpled paper from her own bag handing it over, the paper looking like it had been crushed hard in between everything else in her bag.

Rosa didn't say anything, simply walked over to a cupboard and got a cookie jar.

"One cookie for Kanaya" Rosa said smiling, giving the cookie to a smiling Kanaya.

"Thank you sis."

"And one cookie for Vriska."

"Thank you auntie Rosa" Vriska said smiling, turning to Kanaya.

"Wanna go play more doll pirates?"

"Yeah."

The two kids ran out of the kitchen, the sound of their laughter making Redglare smile.

"To be young and innocent again… what I'd pay to get it."

"What I'd do to take it" Mindfang agreed, walking over to the refrigerator, taking out a bowl of cold spaghetti.

"You ok with microwave dinner honey?"

"Anything as long as it's food" Redglare said. "I am starving."

She turned to Rosa. "So… Kanaya is one of your sisters huh? Aren't you afraid that she'll end up getting hurt playing with a future don? I mean, no offence Mindfang but surely there are some risks."

"There are" Mindfang said, nodding her head as she put the food in the microwave.

"But we make sure we teach our young the dangers from a young age. You know, don't talk to strangers or cops, and don't take food from anyone unless you trust them."

Dolarosa smiled. "Also it's good for both Kanaya and Vriska to have someone their own age to play with."

Rosa looked at the paper Vriska had handed over. "God damn it, why do all you Serkets insist writing your B's like eights?"

Redglare chuckled. "Wow, that is a family trait?"

"It's a Serket thing" Mindfang said with a shrug. "Vriska even likes adding little legs on her to make them look like small spiders."

"So that's what those are" Rosa said, squinting at the paper. "Seriously you guys should hire someone to help her with her writing I have no idea what she has written here… thank god I only have to read the teachers notes."

The microwave beeped and Mindfang got out a hot plate of spaghetti, swearing loudly as she burned her fingers.

"Language Mindfang" Rosa said, hitting Mindfang over the head.

"Want some help with that?" Redglare asked Mindfang, who shook her head.

"Nah it's fine, I got it."

"And you Rosa? Want me to try and decipher that text?"

"You think you can?"

"If I can interpret Mindfang's math notes I can understand a kid's messy scramble."

Dolarosa laughed, Mindfang sighing. "No respect. Fine, be that way, when I'm in charge I'll demolish math and writing in the household."

Mindfang winked, to show that she was just kidding, placing a bowl of the finished spaghetti in front of Redglare who took off her glasses as she reached for the notes Rosa handed her.

"Thanks" Rosa said, not saying anything about Redglare's eyes.

"No worries, that's what non family members of the Serket family is for I suppose."

Redglare blinked as she got used to the light without her glasses, looking at the paper.

"Wow... that's a lot of red markers… and she seems to have inherited the Serket wit and hate for math."

Mindfang shrugged. "We're mobsters, we don't need math."

"Oh really… so numbers like how much money you have, how much you can earn per person, payment and all that stuff, this is not that important to people like the mob?"

Redglare took a mouthful of pasta as she continued looking on the paper, ignoring Mindfang who looked hurt at her for saying she actually needed math in real life.

"Wow this is good, thanks honey."

"Hey it was leftovers from yesterday, it's technically Rosa who made that, thank her."

Redglare smiled. "Thank you Rosa, this is delicious."

"Well when you make a healthy meal for the family you make sure that it tastes as good as possible so they don't notice the veggies slipped in between all the other stuff."

Redglare giggled, looking down to the paper again. "Ok, let's see, Vriska has good reports in art at least... her teacher has written that she is glad she came over her spider eating people phase and that the pirates are a welcome change."

Mindfang smiled. "See Rosa I am setting a good example, Vriska more into pirates now than she was about wanting to raise mutant spiders to send at her enemies."

Mindfang winked at Redglare. "Vriska looks up to me, anything I do she automatically loves too, she is so adorable sometimes."

Redglare shook her head in amusement at Mindfang's antics, her smile dimming as she got to the bottom of the page.

"Seems her teacher want to have a meeting with Vriska's parents. She has apparently been bullying two kids at school… a Tavros Nitram and an Eridan Ampora."

Mindfang and Dolarosa shared a look that Redglare caught.

"What?"

"No worries" Mindfang said. "Just some family things. VRISKA, COME HERE FOR A MINUTE."

Vriska soon appeared in the kitchen, Redglare smiling as she saw that Vriska was now wearing a pirate hat with a skull and crossbones symbol.

"Yes auntie Mindfang?"

"Come here squirt" Mindfang said grabbing Vriska and placing her on her lap.

"Have you been bullying Tavros and Eridan?"

Vriska squirmed a little. "Yes."

"And what have we told you before?"

"We do not bully family friends, we help them."

"So what does that mean?"

"But I was helping Tavros, he's so weak and boring and a sissy and I keep telling him to man up but he doesn't."

"Vriska… the Nitram family and the Serket family are friends… and it's not up to you to tell Tavros what kind of man he'll need to be, that's up to him and his family… so what are you going to do on Monday?"

Vriska sighed. "Apologize to Tavros."

"Good… and Eridan? Is a lousy Ampora and deserves to be buried in the sandbox. Good girl, now go back and play with Kanaya."

And as Mindfang let Vriska down and let the girl run back to her game of doll pirates Redglare gave Mindfang a huge look of 'what the hell' Mindfang had ever seen.

"Remember the name Ampora? They are the reason Rosa doesn't have living parents, the reason why drugs and guns are as big of a problem as it is in the slums, and they are the Serkets biggest enemies. Vriska goes to the same school as one of their kids Eridan and we will not apologize for anything Vriska does to the kid."

"This is why I am always the one going to the teachers meetings" Rosa said. "I always seem to be the one who have to stand in the middle of the Serkets and Amporas and tell them to calm the fuck down. Was there anything else in the teacher's rapport for Vriska?"

Redglare looked back to the paper. "Let's see, good imagination, seems a tad restless in classes she finds boring… very eager at sports but could learn the meaning of the word sportsmanlike."

"Nothing we haven't heard before" Rosa said, taking the note back.

"I'll take this to Vriska's mom, I'll see you two later, and Mindfang, behave yourself."

Mindfang smiled at Rosa and made a small salute. "Yes ma'am."

As Rosa walked out Mindfang turned to Redglare.

"Well, that's 1 member of the family and 2 non family members out of the way, I don't know about you but I think this is going great."

Redglare didn't speak, simply continued eating her food, thinking silently to herself that she hoped at least some of the other people she was going to meet during this weekend was relatively normal.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Teenage drama

After Redglare had gotten some food in her stomach she followed Mindfang on the tour of the house. The house was gigantic, not that Redglare expected anything less from a family of mobsters.

In a study Mindfang introduced Redglare to 4 guys playing poker at a table, Slick, Deuce, Boxcars and Droog who did most of the grunt work when they were needed, Redglare deciding she didn't need to know any more than that, as Slick started yelling at Deuce who laid down a straight flush out of seemingly pure luck.

"Don't mind them" Mindfang said as Slick jumped over the table to tackle Droog who had defended Deuce.

"They do this all the time, give it 10 minutes and they'll calm down, bandage each other up and fix the mess they made."

Mindfang stopped outside a dark blue door.

"Right… we can might as well get this over and done with now."

She knocked on the door, winking to Redglare as a muffled voice called out.

"Enter."

Mindfang opened the door, taking Redglare with her into an office, where Mindfang's mom looked up from a bunch of papers she was looking at.

"Ah, law girl, Mindfang told me you'd be spending the weekend."

Redglare gulped. "Yeah… that's not a problem is it?"

"Not as long as you understand that any crime you witness never happened."

"Ma, don't freak her out, she's still shook up from meeting the midnight crew."

"Ah, so that was them making a ruckus downstairs."

The Don Serket chuckled and rose from her spot, walking over to Redglare. "Don't worry kid; we do have some manners when it comes to our guests… Also I kind of like you, even if you have chosen a rather poor career path."

Marquise raised a hand to Redglare. "You are welcome here whenever you want."

Redglare gulped but took the hand, trying not to winch as Marquise squeezed her hand hard.

"But know this, girl… you hurt my baby girl and I will make you pay."

"Understood Marquise" Redglare said, flexing her hand as Marquise let go, walking over to kiss her daughter's cheek.

"Love you dear, now I have a lot of work to do, but I appreciate you coming to visit your old mother."

"Stop it ma, you are embarrassing me" Mindfang said with a small wink to show she wasn't serious. "And stop scaring Redglare, you know she's trying."

"I know… just letting her know where the line is."

Marquise looked to Redglare grinning. "I like you kid you have spunk. The fact that the first time we met you were screaming in my face makes me happy, because it means you got bones in your nose, and you need that if you are going to date Mindfang. I hope you'll have a nice weekend here."

"See you later ma" Mindfang said, she and Redglare walking out of the office, Mindfang closing the door taking a deep breath.

"Well then… that went well enough."

Redglare gave a small panicked laugh.

"Don't worry, she told you didn't she, she likes you, she's not going to harm you unless I ask her too, and trust me, I'm not going to do that."

Mindfang smiled, leaning up to hug Redglare, Redglare calming down and hugging Mindfang back, kissing her girlfriend passionately.

A door opened somewhere and a voice called out.

"OK seriously Mindfang, you can't do that in the privacy of your own room?"

Mindfang pulled away from Redglare. "Ah perfect timing, Redglare this is Aranea, Vriska's older sister."

Redglare looked to where Mindfang was gesticulating with her hand, seeing a girl with the traditional long black Serket hair and blue eyes, hidden behind a pair of white rimmed glasses, dressed in a pretty nice blue dress.

"Nice to meet you" Redglare said, holding out her hand.

Aranea took it, shaking it gently. "If I were you I'd get out now while you still can."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing good comes of dealing with the mob… you have a choice to leave whenever; I say take it now, and never look back."

Aranea looked back to Mindfang. "And you. What the hell have you done to Vriska now? Because you fucked up and went on a stupid drunken raid she now believes she's a fucking pirate, you keep getting her in trouble."

Mindfang rolled her eyes. "Aranea what problem is there if Vriska likes pirates? She's 6 years old, what kind of trouble can she get into?"

"You know what kind Auntie…" Aranea sighed. "Whatever, I am heading out, I have a study group waiting for me so I can ace my midterms."

"All right, you have fun at the library, go say bye to your sister before you go."

Aranea flipped a bird over her shoulder and left down the stairs.

Redglare blinked. "Wow… what's her beef?"

Mindfang sighed. "Aranea is the white sheep of the family. She hates all we stand for and all that we do, she hates that the first thing any person reacts to when they meet her is the family name… so she has made her feelings very clear, she intends to move out the moment she is of age… she also harbors the notion of taking Vriska with her to save her sister from the life of crime, but Vriska doesn't want to leave. That's also why Aranea gets mad at me every time Vriska tries to copy me because she knows Vriska will never choose her sister over me and the family."

"So your family is ok with Aranea leaving?"

"Well honestly we don't think she'll leave to far… she has her own reasons to stay in the town."

"Really, what?"

"Not a what" Mindfang said as she led Redglare down the hall. "A whom."

Redglare smiled. "She's in love?"

"Yes… can't blame her though, her special someone is quite the catch. Now, here we are, the main event."

Mindfang opened a door grinning. "My room."

Redglare rolled her eyes before entering, finding a huge mess of a room, clothes and books scattered everywhere, posters from movies Mindfang liked and various blueprints for old ships and boats hung on the walls.

In the corner stood a nicely sized TV, with a myriad of wires going everywhere between the countless of consoles under it, from an old original NES to a PS4 who had apparently just been taken out of its box if the see-through plastic on it was any indication. On the other side of the room was a desk, although you could barely see it under the piles of books and blueprints on top of it.

Redglare sighed. "You are a classy lady Mindfang."

"Well even if I were to try and clean it up, would you really think any different of me?"

"No" Redglare said, dropping her bag on Mindfang's bed. "So I am guessing we are sharing a bed tonight."

"You mind?"

"Of course not, as if I want to be in a room all by myself in a house full of mobsters."

Mindfang chuckled. "You still on about that, I told you, no one will touch you… other than me. I can touch as much as I want."

Redglare grinned and blushed as she felt Mindfang embrace her once more, the two just standing there embracing each other for a while before Redglare noticed a poster to her right.

"You have a life sized Johnny Depp poster from the Pirates of the Caribbean?"

"Signed too, look at it, I bought it on ebay, cost a small fortune, but DAMN if it wasn't worth it."

"OK, you have a serious problem you know that?"

"Oh sure, I like pirates and I have a problem, how is your room looking Pyrope? Still trying to make your room look like a medieval castle with all the dragon posters, sculptures and plushies you have?"

Redglare held up her arms. "OK, ok, guilty as charged… now, is there anything else you want to show me?"

Mindfang was about to answer as a small sound of a bell was heard.

"Perfect timing, dinner."

Mindfang smiled. "This will probably not shock you, but the Serkets originally came from Italy, and we have strong connections to family. So, no matter the hectic day, we always take time to eat together as one… now come on, knowing Dolarosa she'll have made another fucking masterpiece."

Mindfang led Redglare down to the dining room, where people already were sitting down in their seats laughing and chatting. Redglare quickly saw who the Serkets where, the long black wavy hair and blue eyes being a hereditary gene it seemed.

Mindfang led her to the end of the table, she herself sitting down next to her mom's right who sat at the head of the table, Redglare sitting down herself to Mindfangs right.

Just as almost every seat was full the door opened and a beautiful woman rushed in, her long hair fluttering.

"I am so sorry I am late" she panted, taking of her black leather jacket. "I had to work overtime at the shop."

Redglare could do little else than to stare at the girl. She was probably around Latula's age, her hair a beautiful shade of brown, her lips and eyebrows pierced and her arms full of intricate tattoos.

"Think nothing of it Porrim, we know you are a busy girl" Marquise said, Porrim smiling and sitting down.

"All right maggots, shut your faces and listen up… we have a guest this weekend, this here is Redglare, she's Mindfang's girl, no one touch her, her stuff or her car, got it?"

Redglare was kind of shocked that the Marquise spoke up for her, she in return giving a small smile and wave to the others at the table.

"Hey kid, sorry to ask this, but could you take the glasses off at the table?"

Redglare turned to Marquise again. "Huh… oh… yeah, sure, sorry."

She took off her glasses, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light and less redness. Redglare smiled to everyone, feeling a lot more conscious on her surroundings now, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Looking around she saw Vriska and Kanaya sitting next to each other, Vriska's pirate hat perched on the chairs top corner, a woman who had to be her mom talking gently to her as Vriska smiled and giggled.

Further down the table Redglare spotted the poker playing midnight boys, now with women at their sides, rolling their eyes as the girls poked at bruises and scratches they had got in their fight.

"Where is Aranea?"

Redglare turned to Marquise who spoke up, looking down at the table.

"Left for a study group again" Mindfang said, shrugging her shoulders. "She didn't say when she'd be back."

"Aranea is a fart face" Vriska said, slamming her little hand down on the table.

"Vriska."

Her mother turned to Vriska, apparently shocked. "You can't say that about your sister."

"But she is, she keeps calling Gran gran bad names and says I shouldn't play with auntie Mindfang."

"She is still family little one… your mother have told you about the Serket family motto right?"

Vriska looked to her grand mom who had spoken up, frowning a little as she muttered.

"We do not steal, badmouth or threaten family; we love them and support them, no matter what."

"That's right… your sister is having a hard time and is confused about some stuff, but that doesn't give you the right to badmouth her… promise me you won't do it again?"

"I promise Gran gran."

"That's the spirit squirt."

Redglare smiled, happy to see how happy this family seemed to be, despite their jobs. She then took a deep breath as the smell of food reached her again, and suddenly she was starving, even if she had eaten a bowl of pasta an hour earlier.

Dolarosa came into the room rolling a small service trolley, carrying a big plate filled with sizzling steak, several pots of sauce and gravy, and a bowl filled with potatoes and other vegetables.

"Oh that smells like heaven" Mindfang said with a small moan as Dolarosa put everything on the table, sitting down in the spot next to Redglare.

"I aim to please" she said with a giggle, Redglare quickly realizing she was about to drool, shaking the feeling off.

She looked to her left as Mindfang took her hand, seeing that her other hand held her mother's hand.

Turning down to her other side she saw everyone clasping their hands together, Rosa taking her free hand as Marquise closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Dear lord, thank you for blessing this family with food, good health and happiness, we pray for you to keep our family safe and prosperous, may our sorrows be bestowed upon our enemies, thank you lord, Amen."

"Amen" everyone said, hands released as Redglare blinked.

"Grace… really?"

"Again, we are Italian, what did you expect, pass me the meat would you?"

Redglare smiled at Mindfang, before getting the plate from Rosa, taking a good piece herself before passing the food. She noticed that while there were people who had gotten food no one was eating.

Not even little Vriska who were staring at her plate where a steak were drowning in brown sauce were eating, just went from looking at her plate, to her Grandmom, then back to her plate.

As soon as everyone had gotten food on their plate Marquise took her knife and fork, taking a good piece of meat and stuffing it in her mouth. She closed her mouth and moaned in euphoria.

"Damn Rosa you are a magician… everyone eat, don't let this go cold, it would be a felony worse than we do daily."

Everyone laughed before starting to eat, Rosa smiling as she was showered with good compliments.

Redglare turned to her.

"This is really good."

"It's nothing much" Rosa said with a shrug. "I just want to make sure everyone is taken care of… Vriska, elbows off the table."

Vriska, who had been leaning her head on her elbow as she ate, sat up straighter in her chair before continuing to eat.

"And eat your greens too."

Vriska pouted. "But Miss Rosa, its broccoli."

"And it's very good for you… no leaving the table until you have eaten all the greens."

Down the table Porrim spoke up. "So Mindfang, what is this rumor I have heard about you deciding to become a pirate?"

Mindfang chuckled. "Hey I was drunk, I saw an awesome ship and figured it would be great for plundering and I got some drunk sailors to help me sail it away… of course about 5 minutes out we decided that no pirate adventure was complete without some bottles of rum so we decided to sail back and get some… and the cops stood waiting for us at the docks."

Everyone laughed as Mindfang told her tale, Redglare shaking her head.

"Hey as far as family screw ups go that's not the worst that has happened" Marquise said with a small giggle. "Hey Joe, remember the Fabiano incident?"

The Serket man further down on the table groaned as Marquise laughed, turning to Redglare.

"Stupid putz was so stressed out one morning, I told him to deal with a rat working for the Amporas who tried getting close to us, I can only imagine the scene as he stood down at the docks, Box and Slick holding Fabiano still in a bucket and the idiot realizing he had grabbed the bag of flour and not cement."

Everyone started laughing again, Joe shaking his head with a small smile.

"The best part" Mindfang said speaking up, "was me getting up for middle school heading to a cooking class, taking the bag he left believing it was flour. You can imagine the poor teacher who walked into the room and saw a girl in the well known mob family bringing cement to a cooking class. She started screaming, ran out and called the police and child services and even homeland security… She thought I was going to take revenge on her for the D she had given me the week before."

The family laughed again, Redglare not sure how to react to all this information.

"You'll get used to this" Rosa said with a smile as she patted Redglare on the back.

"Trust me, I was pretty apprehensive about this family too when I first started working here, but they are all great people."

"Yeah… I suppose so."

"Gran Gran, me and Kanaya are done eating, can we be excused?"

"That depends squirt, have you eaten your greens?"

Vriska held up her plate showing that it was indeed empty. "All right you two, run off and play… what do we do when we leave the table?"

Vriska who was already at her feet reaching for her hat turned to Dolarosa.

"Thank you for the lovely meal Auntie Rosa."

"Thank you for the good food sis."

"You two are very welcome."

The girls ran out giggling, off onto their own adventures again, everyone smiling.

"There is something about the energy you get with kids in the house" Porrim said smiling.

"Grandchildren are better" Marquise said. "They you can spoil all you want without having to deal with the parenting."

Redglare turned to Mindfang. "Oh really, so this lug hasn't been spoiled in her upbringing?"

Mindfang pretended to be insulted. "Are you saying you think I am spoiled?"

Redglare only gave Mindfang a look that made Marquise laugh. "Ah yeah, I might dote on my kid every now and then, but she knows where the line goes, don't you kid?"

"Yes ma."

Mindfang laid down her utensils and wiped her mouth. "That was amazing as usual Rosa, you are a great cook."

"Thank you Mindfang."

Marquise gave Redglare a small sideways look. "OK… everyone full?"

Everyone nodded.

"All right, Mindfang, lawyer kid… could you two help out Porrim and Rosa with the dishes?"

"No worries ma" Mindfang said rising from her chair, starting to stack dirty plates. "You don't mind do you Redglare?"

"No I like helping out."

"Good" Rosa said getting up with a smile. "Just load it on the cart."

Porrim rose and helped out too, Redglare not really knowing what was going on until all four was outside of the dining hall and the door closed behind her.

She frowned. "What was that about?"

"What?"

"We are the only ones moving… the rest of the family is in there."

"Of course they are" Mindfang said. "They are having a small meeting… a lot of jobs coming up, they need to plan properly."

Redglare stopped up. "You mean… that right through those doors your family is planning what criminal activity to do this weekend?"

"Hey we need to get the money from somewhere" Mindfang said, her smile faltering as she saw Redglare looking like she was going to start hyperventilating any second.

"Honey… calm down… you knew what my family does for a living when you came, and ma told you she's not going to stop her work just to please you… relax, no innocent lives will be taken, ok?"

Redglare calmed down and nodded, getting her glasses back on her nose. "I'm good… I think."

"Don't fret it honey… I don't believe we have been formally met."

Redglare looked up at Porrim who smiled at her and held out a hand.

"Redglare Pyrope."

"Porrim Maryam. I am Rosa's younger sister and Kanaya's older… you said your last name was Pyrope?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Any relation to a Latula?"

"She's my sister… how do you know her?"

"I attend a few of the same classes as her… well all of them really, but she doesn't show up to most of them."

Redglare sighed. "Yes… she tends to skip… what does she call them again… the worst snooze sessions?"

"Well she inspire the best in the rest of the class that's for sure" Porrim said with a laugh, as she helped Rosa load the dishwasher full of the dirty plates. "The class has started going in on a dare to see who can get away with doing the most ridiculous things to Latula without her waking up. It's kinda hilarious really."

"Who's in the lead?" Mindfang asked with a small laughter.

"Well… Meenah is a high contender, she used a full class of math to glue playing cards to Latula's face… then there was Rufio who managed to get a ruler to lie flat on her nose… Cronus is in the bottom of the list though, the idiot tried to kiss her, she smelled his lollypop breath, woke up and punched him in the face."

Mindfang grinned, turning to Redglare. "Your sister hits an Ampora, I like her already, you should bring her over one day."

Redglare sighed. "Bloody hell, everywhere I look there are mobsters."

"For what it's worth Latula is really active in gym" Porrim said smiling, sitting down with a smile.

Redglare looked at the girl.

"If you are in Latula's class that means you're… 15?"

"16 actually, why."

"The amount of body art on you threw me off… you let her do this to herself Rosa?"

Rosa smiled and sat down herself. "Hey I am not her mother, only her guardian… if I tried telling her no she'd go and get a tattoo from some bad shop in the hood… better I approve and take her to a good place where I know she won't get ink poison or something."

"And the piercings?"

"I did those myself" Porrim said proudly. "One of my tattoos too. After school I work part time at a tattooing parlor downtown, great place."

"Porrim has a really good eye for designs" Mindfang said with a grin. "Well, all the Maryams do really, but Porrim usually take her designing to a new level… so everyone in the family has a tattoo that she designed."

"Everyone?" Redglare asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Everyone who is of legal age and works for the family… except me."

"Why not you?"

Porrim spoke up as Mindfang looked sort of embarrassed.

"The tattoo is a gang thing… everyone in the Serket family has a tattoo with a spider web in it somewhere. Not one is the same. Don Serket's tattoo you have probably seen, the giant white spider on its web, and a crown on her head."

"Yeah?"

"The crown represent her as a leader… not until she dies or step down can Mindfang get hers. What Mindfang gets is up to her as long as it includes a spider web and a crown… and when it is done her legacy starts… that's just how things are."

Redglare nodded, not voicing any opinions about her girlfriend's rise into a mob boss. She then turned to Mindfang, deciding to lighten the mood.

"I am not getting a web tattoo on me, just so you know it."

"Can you even get a tattoo?" Mindfang asked curiously. "I mean, I thought albinos didn't have any pigments in their body."

Strangely it was Porrim who answered. "A person with albinism doesn't have any pigments in them from birth, tattoos add pigments, if anything tattoos look better on a person with albinism since their skin is so pale, the color pops more."

Redglare raised an eyebrow. "You know your stuff."

"I should hope so, a few more years and I can be a full time tattoo artist, right now my boss will only let me do small stuff."

Porrim sighed. "If I have to tattoo one more butterfly or dolphin I will scream."

Rosa smiled. "Does that mean your boss finally let you stop doing tribal?"

"Sis, shush, we do not speak of the tribal."

Rosa smiled before looking at the clock. "Well… I need to go check on Kanaya and Vriska… it's time for Vriska's bath."

Porrim and Mindfang looked at each other before laughing a hollow laugh.

"Good to have known you Rosa" Mindfang said, Rosa shaking her head.

Redglare looked to Mindfang. "I am guessing bath time isn't Vriska's favorite part of the day?"

Rosa sighed. "She hates it. Makes a big fuss every time about how it's pointless cause she's only going to get dirty again later and it takes up her playtime… but I usually get her to see my side of things."

Rose sighed and walked out, and no more than half a minute later Vriska's voice was heard.

"NO, NO BATH TIME, YOU CANT MAKE ME."

Soon footsteps were heard as Vriska ran into the kitchen, still wearing her hat and now also a wooden sword, before rushing out the other door.

"No use squirt, you know Rosa will find you" Mindfang called with a giggle, Rosa coming into the kitchen calmly, a smile on her face as she followed Vriska's yelling of mutiny and yellow bellied dogs.

Soon the small yells grew stronger again, this time because Rosa was carrying Vriska over her shoulder, stopping momentarily.

"Mindfang do you mind taking care of Captain Spinneret's hat and sword, we wouldn't want our fearless captain to lose her weapons to the hands of master soap would we?"

"Indeed we do not" Mindfang said with a smile, rising to take Vriska's pirate gear. "Come now Vriska, bath time is fun, and you smell so nice afterwards… try to not make too much a mess for poor Miss Rosa, ok?"

Vriska pouted. "Fine… I promise."

"Good girl, now I'll see you after bad time, ok?"

"OK auntie Mindfang."

Mindfang smiled and kissed Vriska's forehead, Rosa walking off with Vriska once more, the small girl no longer making too much of a fuss.

"Right" Mindfang said, turning to Redglare. "How about we go to the living room and give poor Kanaya some company now that her captain has been called off into stormy waters?"

"OK this pirate thing is all fine and well when we are around Vriska but you can drop the act when we are alone" Redglare said with a huff.

Porrim laughed. "Please, as if Mindfang think it's an act, she is devoted to a life of piracy no matter what social norms dictate."

Porrim led the way to the living room, where they found Kanaya sitting on the floor brushing her doll's hair, the doll and the ones around it wearing various pirate like outfits like bandanas and eye patches.

"Hi Kanaya."

Kanaya looked up at Porrim and smiled. "Hi sis… Rosa got Vriska huh?"

"Yeah she did… so what are you doing?"

"Well Vriska said I was her first mate and I was responsible for her ship while she was gone… so I am watching the ship."

Kanaya pointed to a bunch of cardboard boxes on the carpet, which was obviously supposed to be the ship.

"All right… well first mate Kanaya, your captain is away… wich also means that you are in charge… what do you want to do?"

Kanaya looked at Mindfang who smiled at her. "We can do anything?"

"Yes we can."

"OK… the crew wants to take a small break from the pirating and have some tea… you think that's ok with the captain?"

"I think the captain would be very upset if you plundered without her" Mindfang said sitting down next to Kanaya who smiled.

"Can we have some tea too?" Porrim asked sitting down next to Kanaya.

Kanaya's face went into a huge grin, as Redglare too sat down somewhere safe and got a small plastic tea cup. This weekend probably wouldn't be so bad after all


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Redglare and the others played tea party with Kanaya for about half an hour before Kanaya started blinking and yawning.

Porrim smiled gently. "All right Kanaya, time for bed."

Kanaya just muttered, raising her hands, Porrim lifting her up into her arms.

"I'll take this one to bed, you guys have a good night" she said smiling, walking off with a dozing Kanaya resting her head on her shoulder.

Redglare smiled. "Sweet kid… is Vriska still getting a bath?"

"Probably not" Mindfang said with a smile. "But usually Dolarosa takes her back to her room and straight into her PJ's and tells her a good night story… Vriska needs some incentive to fall asleep."

Redglare looked at the mess around them." Should we clean this up?"

"Nah, just put it all in one area, that way the kids will find everything tomorrow when they wake up."

Mindfang smiled. "Now… how about you and I have some alone time?"

Redglare smiled. "I'd enjoy that a lot."

Mindfang smile turned into a grin, Redglare giving a quick yelp as Mindfang lifted her off her feet, carrying her up to her room, throwing Redglare onto her bed. Redglare giggled as Mindfang closed her door and jumped in after her, capturing her girlfriend's lips with her own.

Mindfang reached down, taking off Redglare's glasses, putting them on the table next to the bed, staring lovingly into the red orbs belonging to the other girl.

"I love you."

Redglare smiled. "I love you too."

The two women tangled themselves together, clothes being thrown off into different corners of the room, fingers touching and caressing every inch of the other that they could reach, until neither remember their names, the two simply excising as one being of pleasure.

After Redglare had come for maybe the 6th time she grunted, grabbing Mindfang in a hug, Mindfang collapsing next to her.

"Good night my love… sleep tight."

Redglare just gave a small grunt before she fell asleep, intoxicated on the smell of the other curled haired beauty next to her.

Next time Redglare opened her eyes she found her nose 5 inches away from Marquise Serket's own face, the older Serket grinning widely.

"Good morning runt, slept well?"

Redglare was instantly awake, tensing up, but not screaming, she was too terrified of the consequences.

"So… you and my daughter seems very intimate… so I suppose you won't do anything stupid like calling the cops if she is involved in anything?"

Redglare gulped. "No ma'am."

"Good… SQUIRT, GET UP, WE NEED YOU IN THE BASEMENT IN HALF AN HOUR."

Mindfang groaned. "Whuh-I'm awake...damn, what kind of bastard does it take for us to get up at early-as-balls A.M.?"

"Just get down in the basement."

"Yeah yeah."

Marquise left, closing the door behind her, Redglare releasing the breath she didn't ever realize she had been holding.

"She'd insane… utterly nuts and insane… honey, I am getting a lock for your bedroom door. I'd prefer it if I know that your mom won't come in here and gaze at my nude body to see if she thinks I am hot enough for you."

Mindfang sat up in her bed stretching, chuckling a little. "First of all, don't worry, you are… second, don't bother, as if a door lock would keep ma out of my room. You think she doesn't know how to pick a lock?"

Mindfang smiled down at Redglare who groaned and turned over, her face planted in the pillow. Not able to resist, Mindfang leaned over and gave Redglare's ass a good squeeze.

"I'm gonna have to change and take care of the bastard who forced me up this early, you go get some proper breakfast in the meanwhile, kay?"

Redglare grumbled into the pillow. "I do not approve of this… fine, you go torture the poor kid who probably deserves it… you owe me."

"I know… I love you."

"I love you too."

A little while later after Mindfang had found some clothes and rushed down to the basement, Redglare found herself walking down to the kitchen, being lured in by heavenly smells of food.

Unsurprisingly she found Rosa by the stove making pancakes.

"Do we have any coffee?"

Rosa looked up at Redglare who almost fell into a chair. "I might need a jumbo size, apparently Mindfang is in the basement hitting some bloke... and I woke with Marquise Serket standing over my naked body next to her heir."

Rosa chuckled gently. "Already reserved one of our largest mugs, I had a feeling you'd need it. Here, wake yourself up."

Rosa reached out, handing Redglare a plate with a stack of pancakes and a huge mug of coffee. Redglare moaned in delight.

"Rosa I love you… don't tell Marquise I said that, It will be me in that basement next."

Rosa giggled. "Don't worry, I'll not say a word… how's the pancakes?"

Redglare took a huge bite of the huge stack in front of her. "Oh my god, does everything you touch turn to gold? Is there anything you cannot do?"

Rosa blushed gently at the praise. "Don't give me seafood, I never really liked it, and don't know how to properly cook it… other than that I am pretty confident in my cooking skills."

Redglare smiled, turning around as she heard the loud noises of children giggling.

"Is Vriska and Kanaya up already? Where do they find the energy?"

Rosa sighed. "Saturday morning cartoons… Need I say more?"

Redglare giggled. "Nah I get it… I have a sister the same age who is like that; she is addicted to all the classics. Gummi bears, Duck tales, rescue rangers."

Rosa lifted an eyebrow. "There is a channel that still shows those?"

"Nah, not really… I blame Latula, she took one look of what was considered children's entertainment and decided that her younger sister was going to be raised with proper shows and not the crappy low budget 3D shit that's on these days. She bought all the DVD's she could find and played it for Terezi... they are incredibly close for their age gap, makes things a lot easier when I am not home."

Redglare frowned, picking at the pancakes in front of her.

"Hey Rosa… this might seem very out of the blue but… before your parents died, where they around a lot?"

Rosa, who had been about to pour another batch of pancake batter into the frying pan stopped the motion mid air, looking over at Redglare with a sad smile.

"Yeah… I suppose so. They had jobs both of them but they always came home with a smile and always took time off for school plays and the like… why do you ask?"

Redglare sighed gently. "It's a long story… sorry I asked."

"No, no, now I am curious… is there anything wrong?"

Redglare took another sip of her coffee. "It's just... my mom works... a lot... she's never home and when she is she is usually criticizing us... talking about how Latula should be focusing on school instead of her hobbies, that Terezi should grow up and that I should go the extra mile and get constant A's on every test. She sends over money when we need it but never stays home for long. There always seems to be some sort of case or job or conference out of town that's more important than us... Me and Latula never really complain but Terezi... Terezi has enough problems, she's near sighted, don't have a lot of friends in school and can be kind of a shut in... and if she thinks for herself that her own mom doesn't love her... sometimes it's too much and me and Latula don't know what to do."

Redglare sighed. "I don't know how you do it… how you did it, raising both Porrim and Kanaya yourself… you really are a trooper Rosa."

Rosa looked at Redglare seriously, as Redglare finished her pancakes and coffee.

"Sounds like you got it rough too."

Redglare shrugged. "Maybe… it's not like we are missing out on stuff, mom sends us money every month, we don't really have to watch carefully of what we spend the money on as long as we don't buy something really expensive, and we always have food in the house and all of us are in school… I just… I come here and meet the Serkets… criminals every single one, but they are all a happy family. They take care of their own and makes sure that everyone feels safe… and then there is our mom that's never home and me and Latula have to talk at least once a day to figure out a schedule of time with our little sister Terezi and try to find out why she is never out with friends, just sitting in her room or in front of the TV doodling away with her crayons."

Redglare sighed. "It's not fair."

Rosa didn't speak, simply placed the bowl of batter down on the counter, walking up to Redglare hugging her.

"Listen here honey… if you ever need anything… a babysitter, a tutor, money for medical bills… call me… if you don't want the Serkets to help, then call me. I might get paid with blood money but I don't do anything illegal to get them, and I would be more than happy to help."

Redglare smiled, hugging Rosa back. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

The touching moment was ruined a few seconds later as the door to the basement opened, Marquise stepping through the door throwing a hammer covered in what Redglare strongly told herself to believe was strawberry jam.

Rosa yelled up. "Oy, what have I said about bloodied tools on my kitchen table?"

"My money paid for that table Rosa, and I have had an extremely long night and I'm not in the mood… oh look, pancakes."

Mindfang was the next through the door, taking off a pair of gloves, the knuckles of them shining metallic in the early morning light.

Redglare closed her eyes and counted to ten. "I need air" she muttered, took a final sip of her coffee and left the room.

Marquise looked at her, and then to her daughter.

"Well she is handling this better than I thought she would."

"Lay off ma… I really care about her, you know that."

"I do… but family comes first… you know that too."

"She's not a rat ma… please don't make this into a huge deal."

"All right. Now clean the table before Rosa pops a vein."

Fifteen minutes later Mindfang walked out on the porch of the large Serket house, finding Redglare in a chair, looking at Vriska and Kanaya running around in the leaves having fun.

"Hey… how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well." Redglare looked up at Mindfang who looked nervous.

"Look, I am not going to run off just because I saw some blood… I love you too much."

"So you are sticking around?"

"Of course I am silly… now get down here and kiss me."

The rest of the weekend passed in much of the same settings. Redglare enjoyed the company of Mindfang, closing her eyes and ears whenever she saw or heard anything from the not so legal part of the Serket members.

The days went by watching Vriska and Kanaya play pirates, and shooting warning looks to Porrim who was doodling tattoo designs and holding them up to Redglare's skin to see if it would work.

Monday morning came way too fast for Mindfang's liking. She enjoyed having her girl over. It made her happy falling asleep next to her, even if she was a bit prudish about rights and wrongs.

Yawning she stepped out with Redglare who sighed.

"Well then… back to the lecture halls. You got everything?"

"Yeah… and you? Got all your extra stuff?"

"Yeah I'm good. Let's get to school."

"All right. BYE MA, SEE YOU AFTER SCHOOL."

Mindfang walked over to Redglare's red car, sitting down in the passenger seat.

"OK then… back to prison."

"We are going to school Mindfang."

"That's what I said."

"You are impossible… but I love you."

"I love you too Red… you're the best girlfriend a girl could ask for."

Redglare smiled a little, her mind turning to Latula and Terezi, wondering if her two sisters had been ok the weekend she was gone.

…

Terezi giggled as she sat cross legged on her big sisters board. With Regina away for the weekend it was Tula who was in charge… and that meant a lot of fun.

Dinner was usually an ordered pizza with whatever Terezi wanted and Tula even let her try out some of her cool colorful videogames. The best part when she was in charge though was that the ride to school was fun.

Tula never heard her alarm clock ring, so Terezi got up and got ready, smiling bright as her sister made the words Regina hit her for using and rushed downstairs.

And now she was on Latula's board, the older girl standing behind her, making sure that they didn't crash with anyone before stopping in front of Terezi's school.

"There we go… just in time to, how about that."

Terezi giggled as Tula helped her get to her feet.

"Now have fun at school today, ok Terezi?"

Terezi faked a smile. School was never fun for her. "Yeah Tula, I'll twy."

"Good girl… see you after school."

And with that Latula got back on her board, rushing towards her own school.

Alterna high was a decent school. No private high end budgeted school, but there was no high crime rate, most of the kids there passed and went on to college and there was no metal detectors at the doors. The school's football team did well enough, nothing newspaper worthy, but they didn't suck at least. The schools outdoor area was nice and clean, and the faculty had never had any discoveries of used needles or white powder on the property.

Latula smiled as she swung into school property. She was late… not that she cared a whole lot about it, most of her classes where boring snooze fests. She came to the classes she had to go to so she didn't fail, as well as art and PE, other than that she rarely bothered. She got passing grades on tests and if she was in danger of failing she'd force herself through some extracurricular work to get through it. Swinging into the empty hallways she didn't stop until she heard a familiar voice.

"Pyrope."

Latula winced, stopping and getting off her board, turning around. "Sorry Miss Lalonde, I overslept and had to get my kid sister to school."

The blonde woman sighed. "My office Latula… bring your board with you… in your hands this time."

Latula groaned. "Aww man, not again."

Latula stepped into the office of the woman who sighed, sitting down in the comfy purple chair the guidance councilor looking at her.

"So Latula… why aren't you in class?"

"I told you miss L, I overslept, and my sis has been with her girlfriend this week so I had to take my kid sis Terezi to her school… it's no big, I haven't missed a single English class this week, it's no problem."

The blonde scowled at her. "OK first of its Monday… second of all your class right about now is math."

"Is it? Well I haven't missed a math class this week yet either so."

Latula's smile diminished as the woman across her sighed. She had a habit of doing that.

"Hey Miss, L, you ok?"

"No… I am worried. Latula you are never in class, you sleep through the classes you are in and you don't seem to care... do you not want to be able to get a job?"

Latula frowned. That was about the right wording on all of her mom's passive aggressive post it notes she found around the house after she had put out a new statue too.

"Hey I am passing my classes aren't I?"

"Yes you are… barely. I just wish you could put in some effort here Latula; life is only going to get tougher for you from here on out… how are things at home? You get help with your homework?"

"Hey I don't need help, I understand the subjects we are doing just fine I just… don't feel any motivation to do any more than I have to."

Latula looked at the blonde across her, wondering if it was her imagination if the other gave a small look of understanding.

"All right… listen Latula, you are allready way too late for class... if I gave you a sheet of some questions... could you please answer them for me?"

Latula sat up properly in her chair.

"Eh, sure I guess… is this like a pop quiz or something?"

"Something like that... you're not doing anything anyways right?"

Latula watched as the counselor opened a drawer and found a sheet of paper and a pen, placing it in front of Latula.

"Now I know that many of these questions are very personal, but I want you to know that this is just between you and me... ok?"

Latula shrugged, feeling her stomach turning gently in nervousness. "Okay... whatever you say."

The blonde, feeling Latula's nervousness smiled.

"Hey... don't worry about it, I know you are a smart kid... take your time and answer honestly, if you don't know the answer, guess, it's better than a blank answer."

Latula nodded and started writing, Rose looking at the redhead as her legs twitched and every now and then she kept biting the top of the pen she was using. As the bell rang out for recess she sat up, handing over the papers.

"Here ya go Miss L."

"Thank you Latula, now go and have fun… and please go to class when the bell rings."

Latula sighed. "Fine...smell ya later, Miss L."

"AND NO SKATEBOARDS IN THE HALL... DO THAT AGAIN AND I'LL CONFISCATE IT..." Rose sighed as Latula left.

"Like the 5 others I have from before."

Rose looked down on the paper with Latula's test.

"Well then... seems like I have some homework to do as well."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Vriska sat in her seat, her feet kicking idly in the air under her desk as Miss Leijon kept talking about letters and reading. This was so boring, and her head was starting to hurt again.

She grunted, Kanaya who sat next to her giving her a small worried look. Vriska looked at the blackboard again. Miss Leijon had turned her back and was writing on her board, Vriska taking the opportunity to pop up the book she was supposed to use for reading practice, laying her head down on the desk to sleep… unfortunately someone else was paying attention.

"MISS LEIJON, WISKA'S SLEEPING AGAIN."

Vriska opened her eyes and looked behind her to scowl at the sound, finding the face of Terezi who was pointing at her.

She growled. She'd kick her ass in recess… why she hadn't learned her lesson from the Eridan/Tavros debacle was a mystery, but she'd learn that no one tattled on her.

"Vriska… could you please sit up in your chair?"

Vriska looked up and saw Miss Leijon look at her, the woman giving her that look Vriska had learned to hate. She groaned.

"But this is so boring."

"But you need to learn Vriska. And you won't learn if you don't pay attention to what I am telling you… now, how about you go up to the board and help out by drawing the letters?"

Vriska groaned.

"You'd rather do it during recess?"

Vriska looked shocked up at her teacher. "You can't do that. Oh but I can Vriska… unless you want to help me out at the board now."

Vriska scowled, but got up from her seat mumbling to herself. 'Stupid school, stupid letters, stupid four eyes freckle fart.'

"A… B… Vriska that's an 8."

"No it's a B."

Another sigh from her teacher.

"All right Vriska… C… D…"

Vriska growled, writing down the letters, finishing just as it called out for recess.

"All right class, go and enjoy the sunlight… and be back in time for math, ok?"

Vriska was the first one out of the door, Kanaya quickly at her side.

"You ok Vriska?"

"No. I hate school, I don't like it. It's stupid; we don't even get naptime here."

Vriska looked at Kanaya seriously. "I say we transfer back to kindergarten again, I preferred it there, we could play all we wanted, and sleep when we wanted and we didn't have to do stupid things like math and reading or homework."

"I don't think it works like that though Vriska… we're too old for kindergarten now, we need to learn to read and write so we can get jobs and figure out what we want to do and be big girls like sis and Auntie Mindfang."

Vriska kicked a stone hard as she came out. "BUT THIS IS HARD."

Kanaya looked at Vriska who looked mad and upset and sad, seeing that Vriska was trying hard not to cry in frustration. "I can't do this Kanaya. Miss Leijon asks me to sit still and read and I think I am going mad and my head hurts every time I look at those stupid letters… I wanna go back to kindergarten."

"You can't do that stupid, you'we to old."

Kanaya's eyes widened as she looked behind her, seeing Terezi, last out of the classroom as always.

"I can do whatever I want freckle fart."

Kanaya didn't speak. She was Vriska's friend… and while she didn't agree with how Vriska treated others, she didn't want Vriska to be mad at her.

"And you got me in trouble again, didn't you learn from Friday?"

"I don't cawe what you do to me Wiska, I'm not gonna let you bweak the class wules."

"Oh learn how to speak you glassed freak, and I am gonna do whatever the heck I want to."

Vriska walked up to Terezi, glaring straight into her thick glasses.

"And next time you tattle I will bury you in the sandbox."

And with that said Vriska pushed Terezi hard, the redhead falling down on her ass, straight into a water puddle. She looked hurt up at Vriska before sniffing, getting to her feet running inside, her small cries echoing back at Kanaya and Vriska, Vriska grinning.

"That'll teach the stupid freckle fart to mess with me… c'mon Kanaya, let's go and kick sand in Eridan's ugly face."

Kanaya gave one sad look at the door where Terezi had disappeared to, before looking back at Vriska with a small smile.

"Yeah… lets go and play."

When the bell rang out for the day at Befonus grade school, Latula was already waiting outside its gates waiting for Terezi. She had skipped the last class of the day, she really didn't feel like dealing with Social studies this early in the week, she'd rather get some fresh air, and see if she could pull off a smooth grind on the school's stair handlebars… she could of course, so she treated herself to a hot dog before resting by the entrance to Terezi's school.

A mass of kids came running out of the school, giggling happily as they rushed to busses or down the streets to their homes. Lastly came Terezi. Her eyes fixed on her feet avoiding eye contact with anyone, Latula noticing that she was wearing a different pair of pants than the ones she had been wearing when she dropped her off.

"Hi Terezi, how's my favorite sister doing this rad evening?"

Terezi looked up at Latula's voice, giving a small fake smile.

"Same as always Latula, I had fun."

Latula returned Terezi's smile with one of her own, ruffling her hair. 'Liar' she thought for herself.

"As you say squirt, now come on, let's go home." She took Terezi's hand, the two walking down the road.

"We'we not using the fun way?"

"No" Latula said sighing. "Regina would kill me… that being said Terezi, think you could do me a solid and not tell her about this morning?"

Terezi frowned up at Latula. "You mean lie?"

"No, not really just… tell her I took you to school this morning, that's true right?"

Terezi nodded, frowning a little. "Yeah... on youw boawd... with the fun wooshing sounds… and you used a lot of the bad wowds too."

Latula winched. Regina was going to kill her. "Y-you don't have to tell her that much… please Tez, I am begging you here."

Terezi looked as if she thought it over before she smiled.

"I suppose I could not say anything... I am out of cwayons... and paper... and chocolate."

Latula gave her sister a small impressed look.

"You are a tough cookie little sis… all right, after we get home I'll head out and get you some crayons… red ones, right?"

Terezi grinned wide up at her sister. "Yeah, I love wed, thank you Tula, you're the best."

Latula smiled and ruffled her hair. "I love you too kiddo."

Terezi giggled gently, Latula joining in.

"There we go… someone as pretty as you look a lot better when they are smiling."

Terezi looked away, her smile dimming a little bit.

"Listen Terezi… you know I aint good at these adult responsibility shindigs… but both me and Regina care for you and when we see that you aren't happy we get sad… we want to help but we can't if you don't tell us what's up with your life."

Terezi looked up at Latula. "I just don't want you ow Wegina to wowwy."

"Well we do… so, we have about 10 more minutes before coming home, how about you start talking and I'll just listen?"

…

"And she's always making fun of my voice and glasses and she's a vewy mean giwl and I just don't know what to do."

Latula looked down on Terezi. They were getting close to home now and all along the way Terezi had told her of this kid she called Wiska who kept causing trouble in class and bullied her when she told the teachers.

"All right… I think that's enough for one day."

Latula smiled and crouched down so she was at Terezi's eye level, wiping away Terezi's tears… she had gotten more and more upset as she talked, and the tears had come pouring down, all the emotions she had tried to keep inside to not appear weak in front of her family finally being allowed to run free.

"Now this is what we are going to do" Latula said smiling. "Regina will be home in an hour from school, until then, how about we go and have some fun in the basement?"

Terezi looked up in shock. The basement was in all reality Latula's studio, where she made sculptures and figurines in clay. Many of them she sold to people for some extra cash, but all in all Latula just enjoyed doing something with her hands to pass the time.

"Really? I can join you and play with the clay?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not… just remember the rules, no eating or licking the clay, don't go near the oven or the shelf where the finished stuff lies to cool and ask for help if there is something you can't reach."

"I pwomise Lula, I'll be good."

"All right… let's go and have some fun then."

…

Redglare sighed as she parked her car in the driveway. Home… finally. Classes had dragged out today and the weekend had been anything but relaxing, even though she had enjoyed it. Now however she could relax with her sisters and just enjoy herself.

Walking inside she dropped her bag on the kitchen counter, yelling out.

"LATULA? TEREZI? I'M HOME."

"We're down in the basement sis."

Hearing Latula's voice, Redglare walked to the door leading down to the basement, finding Latula looking over Terezi as the kid was trying her best to make a dragon statue.

"Not bad Tez, just drag out the muzzle a little, yeah like that, hey you're really good at this."

Redglare smiled. "Hi guys, how was your weekend?"

"Oh pretty nice" Latula said smiling. "We spent some time together, watched some films, played some games, it was all in good fun, right Terezi?"

Terezi nodded. "Yeah, Lula let me twy her games, I beat all the heawtlesses."

"Yeah you did kiddo, you were a natural… and you sis? How was the weekend with the mobster clan?"

"Not as bad as I originally thought… I survived, if nothing else."

"Lula I'm done now."

Latula looked down at the dragon, thinking to herself that it didn't matter that it looked like crap to her if Terezi was happy.

"OK, then I'll put it over here so we can burn it and make it solid; you go and wash up ok?"

"OK Lula, thank you fow letting me play with youw clay."

As Terezi ran up to the bathroom to wash up Latula turned to Redglare.

"We need to talk."

"OK? About?"

"I got Terezi to open up on the way home… she looked all sad and dejected and shit so I worked some of my magic… and she opened up."

Redglare listened as Latula talked, telling her what Terezi had told her. "And after she was finished telling me all about the bad stuff this Wiska girl put her through I decided she could play a little with my clay."

"Woah, woah, back up a little… Wiska?"

"Yeah, the kid who's been terrorizing our baby sister."

Redglare gaped. 'It couldn't be… could it?'

"Did you ask what this girl looked like?"

"She didn't say… she did say Wiska had a friend who always was with her… apparently she never really bullies Terezi but never really stops the girl from doing what she's doing… she did tell me this girl Wiska kept forcing the other kids to play pirate during recess though."

Redglare blinked. "Latula, get Terezi… we are going for a small drive… I think it's time you both met some people I know very well."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Redglare didn't say a single word as she drove through the streets, just kept her eyes on the road, knowing fully well that Latula was looking at her concerned from her seat in the back, Terezi completely quiet.

"Have I done something wong?" Terezi asked suddenly.

"Of course not Terezi, I just thought there was someone all three of us should go and talk with a little… to get some misunderstandings out of the way."

Redglare parked her car in the Serket driveway, getting out of her car, seeing that Latula and Terezi was following her, Terezi holding hands with Latula, looking up at the huge house through her thick glasses.

Walking to the door Redglare rang the bell, smiling as Mindfang opened it up. "Red? What are you doing back, did you forget anything?"

"Only one small thing it would seem, Mindfang this is Latula and Terezi, my sisters."

Mindfang smiled at the two other girls. "Hi guys, I'm Mindfa… OY, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

Redglare didn't explain herself, just rushed past Mindfang, walking towards the living room. Once there she found who she was looking for, Vriska and Kanaya playing on the floor. She also saw Rosa sewing at something near the fireplace and Marquise resting in a nearby chair.

Redglare didn't care, in fact, she preferred to know that there was adults around.

"Hey Vriska… hey Kanaya."

"Hi Redglare" Vriska said smiling. "Are you back to play some pirates with us?"

"No Vriska" Redglare said, sitting down in front of her. "I just wanted to ask you something."

Vriska frowned, curious about what Auntie Mindfang's girlfriend could want from her.

"The first day I was here I ate dinner with you guys… and your grand mom Marquise asked you to tell her what the family motto was… can you tell me what it is?"

Vriska nodded. "We do not steal, badmouth or threaten family; we love them and support them, no matter what."

Redglare smiled. "OK Vriska, next question, since I am with Mindfang, does that make me part of the family too?"

Vriska looked thoughtful at this, looking over to her grand mom who gave a small nod.

"Yeah… you are totally family."

"And if I tell you I have 2 sisters… would they be considered family too?"

"Totally" Vriska said smiling. "Family is family."

"All right… I brought my sisters, I wanted you to meet each other. Latula, Tez, come in here for a sec."

Vriska and Kanaya, who had been all smiles and laughter since Redglare came to talk, turned pale as Latula and Terezi walked inside, Terezi meeting the others eyes. No one spoke, and the silence became almost deafening for a few seconds. And then Redglare addressed Vriska again.

"Now Vriska, I don't particularly like liars, so I want you to think very hard before answering what I am about to ask you… my sister Terezi is being bullied at her school by a girl in her class who calls her names and pushes her into puddles… who apparently likes to play pirates during recess… have you been bullying my sister Vriska?"

Vriska didn't meet her gaze, simply looked at a spot on the carpet she sat on.

"Yes" she mumbled, so low that the people around her barely heard her.

Redglare just nodded, before turning to Kanaya.

"And you?"

"I haven't bullied anyone" Kanaya said, although she looked like she was close to crying.

"Did you know that Vriska did?"

Kanaya sniffed, but nodded.

"Did you ever stop her?"

A shake of her head.

"Kanaya."

Kanaya winched as Rosa spoke up in a shocked tone. She had known this was going to end badly, now Rosa was going to yell at her.

Redglare looked down at the two girls, both who looked sad and upset.

"Terezi, come over here would you?"

Terezi came up to Redglare, not daring to get to close to Vriska and Kanaya. "Now… I want you two to apologize… and mean it."

A bit of Vriska's confidence came back. "BUT SHE'S A STUPID TATTLETALE."

Terezi wasn't going to take that lying down. "Maybe if you stopped sleeping in class you wouldn't get in twouble."

"I only get into trouble because you keep tattling."

"ENOUGH."

Everyone stopped, Redglare looking shocked over at Marquise. She had risen from her chair and she was glaring… at Vriska.

"Vriska, you will do as you are told… apologize."

Vriska didn't protest. Grand ma's word was law.

"I am sorry I bullied you."

"Me too" Kanaya said sniffing.

Terezi looked at them. "Thanks… I fowgive you."

"Good" Redglare said. "Now go hug."

The three did, and soon cries of sadness turned to silence. Marquise stepped up next to Redglare.

"All right, that takes care of the first part… Now Vriska and Kanaya, I want you two to go up to your rooms… you have 10 minutes to find anything you have taken from this poor girl and bring it back down here… get to it."

The girls didn't protest, just got up to their feet and running of towards the stairs. Redglare turned to Marquise who started talking to her.

"Thank you for coming by kid, I assure you I had no idea Vriska was doing this, I have tried to teach her better."

Marquise smiled down at Terezi.

"Hi there Terezi, I am Marquise, I am Vriska's grand mom… I am sorry for the pain Vriska has put you through."

Terezi shuffled her feet. "It's ok, I think she's just angwy at the school, she doesn't like it vewy much."

"It's no excuse to take it out on others" Marquise said. "I have told Vriska before that in this family we don't hurt innocent people… I promise you that she will never do it again."

Marquise smiled and ruffled Terezi's hair. "And if you three become closer now, remember that this door is always open to you if you need anything."

Marquise looked up, her eyes finding Latula who had been standing in the doorway since Redglare had called for them.

"That goes for you too… if you need anything, don't hesitate to let us know."

Latula smiled. "Our own personal mob connections huh… mom would flip if she bothered to know about our life."

"Yeah well luckily she doesn't" Redglare said with a sigh. "Thanks though Marquise and I am sorry if I stepped over some lines."

"Don't worry you didn't… and as for Vriska being upset that she gets caught in class, she knows my feeling on the subject."

Mindfang giggled. "The whole clan does in fact." Mindfang turned to Latula and winked. "If you are stupid enough to get caught you only got yourself to blame and have to pay the time."

"No exceptions to the rule?" Latula asked.

"My dad's currently doing 3 to 5 with no chance of parole because he got caught" Mindfang said with a shrug. "You don't see mom losing any sleep over it."

Redglare quickly covered Terezi's ears. "KIDS NEARBY, DO YOU MIND?"

"Ignore her" Latula said with a laugh. "I think you guys are hilarious."

Latula stopped talking as the sound of feet announced that Vriska and Kanaya had come back. Vriska brought a small box of stuff, Redglare recognizing pencil cases, phone straps and a few key chains she had given Terezi over the year that Terezi had supposedly misplaced or forgotten at school.

In Kanaya's hand was a decent sized red dragon plushie. Redglare recognized that one too, as a gift Latula had given Terezi for getting an A on her first reading test that same year, although Kanaya had given it accessories from her dolls, making the dragon look very fashionable.

She shuffled over to Terezi and held it out sniffing. "I got this from Vriska." Another sniff. "I knew it was really yours, but it was a gift from my friend and 'sniff' I thought it was really pretty so I kept it 'sniff' I'm sorry."

Terezi took the dragon from Kanaya and looked at it. "You made him pwetty."

"I named him Sir Puffington Roarsalot" Kanaya said smiling. "He is very proud of his hat, and he loves to have afternoon tea."

Terezi looked at Kanaya, holding out the dragon. "You can keep him if you want to."

Kanaya blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, I have many dwagons, and he says he likes you; he would miss you if I took him away."

Kanaya took back Sir Puffington and hugged him, before hugging Terezi.

"Thank you."

Terezi giggled, before looking at Vriska who shuffled her feet, not looking up at Terezi.

"Sorry I took your stuff" she said, Terezi smiled.

"I said I fowgave you… and thanks for giving me back some of the stuff."

Latula looked down into the box. "Hey there is that ruler with the pandas on it; I did wonder where that one went."

Redglare sighed, looking at Vriska who looked back up. "I'm sorry… I won't do it again."

"Good… now we should head home, we have had a long day already and I need to be a little with my close family."

"There is no need to explain" Marquise said smiling. "Thank you for stopping by, and remember that we will always open our doors for you if you need it."

"I appreciate that… Latula, Terezi, we need to get going, something tells me neither of you have done your homework today."

Latula's groan was all the verification Redglare needed.

…

Several days after the Pyrope/Serket bully debacle Latula found herself at her locker as the bell was about to call in for the last class of the day… nature and science study.

She sighed. She really should go to the class, she was beginning to miss a lot of them, and it wasn't like teach Harley was a bad teacher… but the weather outside was more or less begging and screaming at her to come out and play.

"Pyrope."

Latula turned around, looking straight into the face of her nature and science teacher Jade Harley.

"Yes Miss Harley?"

Jade gave her a small smile. "Rose wanted me to let you know she wanted a word with you and you should see her as soon as you could… and yes Latula that means you don't have to attend my class."

Latula grinned. Her choice was made for her it would seem. "Sweet… I uhm… I mean, thanks Miss Harley."

Jade sighed. "Just go… and no skateboarding in the hallways."

"Yes ma'am" Latula said with a grin, backpack over one arm, her skateboard in the other, running down the hallway. She stopped at the councilor's office knocking on the open door.

"Hi Miss L, you wanted to see me?"

"Ah Latula, how nice to see you again... walking on your feet this time... look, WE need to talk, close the door, please."

"Okay." Latula walked inside and closed the door, grabbing a chair dropping herself into it.

"So… sup?"

Rose looked at Latula seriously. "I really shouldn't talk to you alone about this, but I have tried calling the number your mom left 5 times already and no one is answering, so I am unsure if it is an old number or not."

Latula didn't say anything, simply looked anywhere except at Rose. It wasn't an old number, but calling their mom during office hours was pointless and calling her after that wasn't much of a point that either.

"Latula?" Latula looked up at Rose who was talking to her. "Sorry Ms. L, what was that?"

Rose gave Latula a small worried look. "I take it your mom isn't home much."

Latula shrugged. "Yeah… is no big deal though, she pretty much never is."

"I see… well, who takes care of you then?"

"My big sis Regina… she studies Law at the university, mom sends us money every now and then when we need it so we have enough to live on, and I make some statues that I sell on the side so we don't really need much else."

"I see... well, I suppose that's a hurdle for another time... I really should talk with your guardian but if she isn't a lot around... Latula have you heard of something called Aspergers syndrome?"

"I've heard the name yeah… why?"

Latula looked at Rose who gave her a small smile and brought up a sheet of paper.

"Remember that test I made you take?"

Latula nodded, and then frowned. "Wait… do you mean?"

"It confirms the suspicions I had. Now first of all, this does not mean that you are sick, stupid or retarded... people with Aspergers have a tendency to live their life around their interest, and finding doing things not related to it extremely hard... For you... I think it's a safe bet that your interests lie in skateboarding, correct?"

Latula smiled gently. "Yeah… that and sculpturing I suppose, but only when what I make looks rad."

"well then... there you go. I bet you spend hours getting details of things you make correct... getting angry or annoyed when the end results are a lot different than you figured in your head... you can probably name the year Tony Hawk won his first game or the date you got your first board... You are smart Latula... really smart... and the reason why you don't get school, the reason why you pass your classes but can't be bothered doing more than you need... that's the Aspergers too."

Latula frowned, but thought it over. It made sense she supposed. God knew she could spend hours in the basement working on her figurines annoyed at that one part that looked wrong, and she could recall several times in class where her school book suddenly was filled with plans and schematics for her newest skate board experiments.

"Huh...never thought about it that way...I mean, I knew there was something stopping me from bothering to do more, but I didn't think it'd be something like that..."

Rose smiled at her. "Well... school is almost out, so here is what I want you to do." Rose gave Latula a card with her phone number. "Give that to your sister when you come home and tell her to call me... for now, since your mom isn't available, your sister is the next best thing... feel free to Google Aspergers and we will talk more in the morning, OK?"

"Sure, will do. Sis is probably more reliable when it comes to this than Ma anyways..." Latula stopped up. "S-sorry, just forget I said any of that stuff. I-I'll hand this thing to Sis when she gets home...thanks."

Latula sighed. She didn't need social services to get sent into this fix when everything went fine.

Rose smiled at her. "Already forgotten… And remember Latula… you really are a smart girl."

Latula grinned and rose from her seat. "Thanks, you are pretty cool for a teacher."

Rose giggled. "I'll take that as a compliment… now have a nice day… and remember no wheels in the hallway."

Latula ran out of school, getting on her board rushing home. Once there she was met by Redglare who had used the day to study at home.

"Hi sis, where is Terezi?"

"She asked if she could go over to Vriska's house and play."

Redglare smiled. "It's almost a miracle how quickly those three became friends… and you? How was school?"

Latula placed her board at its usual spot near the door where no one would trip over it, sighing.

"Pretty interesting… listen I was supposed to give you this and tell you to call that number."

Redglare took the paper. "Why does your guidance councilor want to talk to me?"

"Cause mom's not available… don't worry, I'm not in trouble, just call the number… I'll be in the basement if you need me."

Redglare didn't ask any more as Latula walked towards the basement of their house, just got her phone and dialed the number.

"Hello, is this a Rose Lalonde? I am Regina Pyrope, I'm Latula's sister, I was told to call you… ok… uhuh… Aspergers? Really? And School, education, will that be a problem? Ok… thank you Miss… yeah I will try to help out on my end, thank you."

Redglare hung up, looking towards the door to the basement. Never a moment's peace it would seem. She rose up from her spot before walking down into the basement where Latula had sat down in her chair, working on a lifelike bull.

"So… Aspergers huh?"

Latula shrugged. "Apparently… could have been worse I suppose. According to Miss Lalonde said it's like me getting obsessed with a few specific things and behaviors, and lacking motivation for stuff that doesn't fall into that category...or something like that."

"So art, skateboarding and videogames then" Redglare said with a grin, looking at her sister as Latula broadened the bull's nostrils slightly. "Miss Lalonde said that academically it shouldn't be a hindrance... but she is going to assign you a student tutor to help you out with your grades and make sure you get to class and actually pay attention in them."

Latula groaned and looked at Redglare. "I don't have much of a choice here do I?"

"No... Not up for discussion... but one thing we can discuss, now that I have you down somewhere you can't run from me, do you know what you want to major in? Any colleges that looks interesting?

Latula groaned. She was in her final year at high school and had to think about what she wanted to do for high school. The teachers had all prattled about it for a month now, but she didn't want to think it over, she still had plenty of time.

"I suppose something to do with art?"

Latula shrugged. "It's the only thing that comes to mind."

Redglare looked around at the many sculptures and figurines Latula had made that were spread around.

"All right, art major… you know that will involve more than just ceramics right?"

Latula gave another shrug as she started rolling out some more clay. "Well, yeah. I just haven't found any classes that revolve 'round ceramics...or glassblowing or smiting, any of those would be cool, too..."

Redglare smiled. "Smiting… that would be interesting huh? Then how about this...find your camera... and you take some pictures of your work. The small and big, show your range. Tomorrow you go to miss Lalonde, show her the pictures and tell her you want to do this as a job. You want to make sculptures, make jewelry, make glass bowls... and then ask her what you need to do to make that happen... and then we will take it from there, ok?"

Latula looked up at Redglare, a worried look on her face. "You sure about this?"

"It's what you want to do right?"

"Well yeah… but mom."

Redglare's smile diminished a little. "Mom does not get to decide what you do with your life."

"Like she has with you, you mean."

Redglare sighed. "I'll take care of mom… you do what you want to do."

"Really?"

"Really."

Latula's face sprung to a smile and she gave Redglare a rare hug.

"Thank you sis, you are the best."

"No need to thank me Latula, that's what I am here for... hey, how about you, Terezi and I go out tonight... we haven't been to the bowling hall in ages, I bet I can beat you now."

Latula guffawed. "As if. You are on. Loser pays for slush for the others right?"

"Right… now, let's go pick up Terezi and we can be on our way."

An hour or so later Latula stood at the arcade in the bowling alley, near the claw machine.

"Pwease Tula, get the dwagon."

Latula smiled down at Terezi who was jumping up and down and pointing at the machine, where a large red dragon plush with a golden sewn belly was lying in the middle of a bunch of other plushies. Latula knew this place, knew they were one of the few good arcades that didn't screw the claw so loose that making catches impossible.

"No sweat sis, I am the supreme plushie catcher after all."

Latula searched her pockets finding a quarter and putting it on the machine, maneuvering the claw to lie over the dragon. She looked it over, from both the front and the side, being happy with her choice, hitting the button. The claw descended on the dragon, nestling itself perfect between its arms and belly before grabbing it.

Terezi squealed in happiness as the dragon rose with the crane and was released to freedom from its box into Terezi's arms.

"Thank you Tula you awe the bestest dwagon catcher ever."

"Yeah, to bad she can't bowl though."

Latula looked up at Redglare who came up to them, having paid for their series of bowling rounds.

"You lose again sis."

"Aww man." Latula grunted. "How are you so good? You used to suck so hard at this."

"Actually no I didn't I just played hard cause you where young back then and I didn't want you to feel bad… however you are a big girl now so now you can handle getting your ass handed to you by your betters."

Latula sighed. "Whatever you say… 3 strawberry slushies coming up."

Latula walked off and Terezi turned to Redglare. "Wegina, what awe we celebwating?"

Redglare lifted an eyebrow. "Celebrating?"

"We awe at the bowling alley on a school night… we awe nevea out on a school night unless we awe celebwating something."

Redglare smiled. "Latula got some news today that are kind of big… so I wanted to go out so she could think of something else."

"So… we awe celebwating Tula?"

"I suppose so."

"Good. I like it when Tula is smiling and happy."

"All right guys, 3 strawberry slushies, what's next?"

Redglare smiled as Latula came back carrying plastic classes with red content, handing them over to her sisters.

"We should start going home, as Terezi said, it is a school night."

Latula sighed. "Yeah I suppose we gotta… so, is there any girls around that want to ride the dragon express to the car?"

Terezi started jumping up and down. "OH, OH, ME, ME, I WANNA."

"All right" Latula said, smiling and handing her slush over to Redglare before bending down.

"Everyone aboard."

Terezi giggled and climbed onto Latula's shoulders, Latula getting up and walking to the car, now and then twirling around making dragon roars, Terezi squealing and laughing.

Redglare couldn't help but smile at the display. Her family might not be as large as the Serkets… but it had just as much heart and love, and that was never going to change.


End file.
